1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lasers and particularly to a laser diode-pumped, Q-switched, thulium-doped, solid state laser for producing a pulsed laser emission at a wavelength of substantially 2 microns at or near room temperature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Development of room temperature solid state lasers in the two micron spectral range has received renewed attention recently because of potential applications in medicine and optical communications. Q-switched 2 micron lasers are of particular importance since they can provide efficient pump lines for tunable parametric oscillators covering the entire 2-12 micron region. Such Q-switched 2 micron lasers also can be readily utilized in various low power, time-controlled medical applications. However, previous Q-switched 2 micron lasers have only been successfully operated with flashpumped excitation systems, which are large and cumbersome.